The author has discussed in works such as History of Korean Popular Music and The Essence of Popular Art that the popular customs of specific forms of popular art and the tastes that resonate with them reflect the social psychology of the consuming public. Based on this framework, the author has explored how various forms of popular music (such as trot, folk, and rock) and their sentimentality (the aesthetic of new sentimentality) have changed over time and the reasons behind these changes.

This book focuses on a commonly addressed theme in Korean TV dramas, which is the “Cinderella story,” namely the love story between a wealthy man and a poor yet intelligent and kind woman. The author examines the ups and downs of the Cinderella story in the history of Korean popular art over nearly a century, starting from The Beautiful Dream of the 20th century’s Shim Sun-ae to the 21st-century drama Secret Garden‘s Gil Ra-im. Notably, the author reveals that the Cinderella story was popular only twice: once in the mid-1960s and again from the late 1990s for about ten years. Moreover, the basic form of the Cinderella story featuring a female character was popular only once during this time. The book raises intriguing questions about the flow and changes of the Cinderella story within the context of modern and contemporary Korean popular art by analyzing the male Cinderella story that emerged in the sociopolitical landscape of the 1960s and the representation of female Cinderella characters in TV dramas during the establishment of a neoliberal regime in the 1990s.

Presentation: Young-mi Lee (Popular Arts Researcher, Theater Researcher)
Discussion: Seok-jin Yoon (Chungnam National University), Young-hee Jung (Korea University)
Moderator: Jiyoung Suh(Center for Hallyu Studies, SNUAC)